Ancestral Parish Records

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Aughabog Parish Registry

1840 - 1843 

Aghabog Civil and Catholic Parish 

In this area of Ireland we can trace our ancestry through several different family lines:  McPhillips, Greenan and Smith (Smyth).  Old records suggest these families have lived in this area for a long time.  Aughabog (Aghabog) Parish was an old parish located in the southwestern quadrant of County Monaghan.  Although most parishes can be traced to medieval origins, Aughabog was created at a later date.  Aughabog (Aghabog) Parish was created in 1767 where a church was built at Crover in 1774.  During the Penal Code days church services were held in ‘Mass Gardens’.  Mass Gardens existed in Annagose, Corleck, Latnamard, Killygragy Fort and Rakean.  Latnamard Church was built in 1812, which today is known as St. Mary’s Catholic Church.  This church was where ‘Irish’ John was baptized. 

Susan McPhillips was born in Corravilla townland, and ‘Irish’ John Smith was born in the neighboring townland of East Rossnaglogh.  A Thomas Greenan family lived in Faltagh townland, which is adjacent to both East Rossnaglogh and Corravilla.  The following shows our family tree: 

Parish Records 

How far back do the Aughabog Parish records go?  Depending on what internet source you cite it will vary.  Aughabog (or Aghabog) merged with Killeevan Catholic parish near the end of the nineteenth century.  Modern Killeevan Parish includes most of what was then known as Aghabog Civil Parish, including portions of Drumsnat, Kilmore and Ematris parishes.  According to the Killeevan Catholic Parish its records date back to January 1871.  One source suggested 1850 as an early date but this source does not indicate where to find these records.  In actuality the earliest records for Aughabog Civil Parish are dated 1840.  A small number of these records can be found merged with another parish registry from County Kilkenny.  We found these records stored by the Mormons. 

During the Eighteen Seventies most records would have been sent to Dublin for safekeeping.  English authorities required parishes to send their records to the National Library.  Some priests hid their books; however, most sent their registers as requested.  Some churches managed to keep their records.  Most church records sent to Dublin burned in subsequent fires.  

Parish priests usually regarded the records of baptisms, marriages and burials as their own property.  Consequently, these records traveled with the priest whenever he left the parish.  Many old records were found with the priests’ belongings after they died.  Perhaps some pages were used as firelighters.  The records lost in the Four Courts fires were mainly Bishop Transcripts, which were copies of parish records sent to the Bishop at various intervals. 

The Penal Laws ended near the turn of the eighteenth century, and many areas of Ireland had no churches at the start of the nineteenth century.  During this turbulent time priests still performed marriages and baptisms, but did so risking their own lives.  Although priests still recorded baptisms and marriages, these were recorded on loose sheets which could be hidden.  Some pages managed to survive through these troublesome years.  Consequently, few parish records prior to the Eighteen Hundreds still exist. 

Our Original Goal 

Our original goal was to find ‘Irish’ John Smith’s baptismal record.  During this time period three ‘John Smyth’ entries are found in the baptismal registry.  One entry was found created on September 28, 1841, and another entry was created on October 31, 1841.  However, the entry dated September 28 may either refer to John or Joan Smyth.  As you recall, ‘Irish’ John was born on March 2.  He was not sure of his birth year, but never believed he was born in 1841.    One entry shown below was created on March 6, 1842.  This entry makes sense because the sponsors bore Greenan surnames.  ‘Greenan’ was the maiden name for John’s mother, Catharine.  There are no ‘Smith’ entries in this registry and all are listed as ‘Smyth’, which suggests ‘Smyth’ is our original surname.  ‘Ionnes’ is the Latin form of ‘John’.  Anna is Latin for Ann.  ‘Thos’ is an abbreviation for Thomas.

Parish Record Dates 

The following records begin in August 1840 and end the first quarter of 1843.  There is a gap starting in 1842 where the records for the latter half of the year are missing.  It is too bad we could not find the records from 1830 to 1850.  Irish John’s sister, Bridget, was born approximately 1839.  It is possible we would have seen the marriage records for Peter Smyth and Catharine Greenan; however, this is assuming Catharine lived in Aughabog Parish.  Typically, the marriage was held at the parish where the woman lived.  Peter Smyth is said to have died in 1847.  John’s brother, Owen, was born in 1845.   

Two maps appear below.  One map shows ‘Latnamard’ townland where the Roman Catholic Church is located.  This church still exists today.   

Document Subdivisions 

This document is divided into various sections.  The section labeled, ‘Parish Script’, shows examples of the writing found in the parish records.  It may give you a feeling of how difficult it was deciphering some of the names.  The registry jumps from Latin to English.  In addition, the parish priest at the time (McLerny) used abbreviations.  The second section, ‘Baptismal Records’ shows the baptismal records subdivided by year.  The third section is ‘Marriage Records’.  Finally, the last section shows how to convert names from Latin to English, as well as typical abbreviations used for first names. 

Parish Script 

Baptismal Records 

There is one thing you will notice while reading these lists.  Sometimes you will see a ‘D.’ after a first name.  As best as I can tell this refers to a spouse. 

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